Union card check more than petition

Published: Monday, January 5, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 4:35 p.m.

To The Editor: A recent letter says the “union card check” is only a “petition.” How do they get that “petition” up?

I know unions. A 15-year-old runaway, I found work at a steel plant making 100-pound artillery shells, working 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. Union membership mandatory, dues 10 percent of pay. Over lunch, I groused about the dues. Oops, wrong guy, the union steward; called me a scab.

He had the foreman under his thumb. New assignment: Pull red-hot shells from a furnace, apply a clamp and hook them on a chain moving overhead. It kept me on a dead run all night. One night I handled 800 shells. Do the math; 40 tons of hot steel lifted overhead. The day shift had three men on that job.

Another night, the line mysteriously went down, except for my job. The whole shift gathered around me, staring, arms akimbo. Too innocent and naïve to catch on, I only wondered why nobody pitched in like they would back on the farm.

People who would work a scrawny kid to death, or scare him to death, will have real fun activities to get that “petition” signed. The worker can’t just walk away; they know him.

<p>To The Editor: A recent letter says the union card check is only a petition. How do they get that petition up?</p><p>I know unions. A 15-year-old runaway, I found work at a steel plant making 100-pound artillery shells, working 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. Union membership mandatory, dues 10 percent of pay. Over lunch, I groused about the dues. Oops, wrong guy, the union steward; called me a scab.</p><p>He had the foreman under his thumb. New assignment: Pull red-hot shells from a furnace, apply a clamp and hook them on a chain moving overhead. It kept me on a dead run all night. One night I handled 800 shells. Do the math; 40 tons of hot steel lifted overhead. The day shift had three men on that job.</p><p>Another night, the line mysteriously went down, except for my job. The whole shift gathered around me, staring, arms akimbo. Too innocent and naïve to catch on, I only wondered why nobody pitched in like they would back on the farm.</p><p>People who would work a scrawny kid to death, or scare him to death, will have real fun activities to get that petition signed. The worker can’t just walk away; they know him.</p><p>Boyd Peyton</p><p>Hendersonville</p>